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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26214469">Ryan &amp; Shane &amp; Ellie Visit a Cat Cafe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkkenobi/pseuds/drunkkenobi'>drunkkenobi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ellie [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cats, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, weird wonderful world episode</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:09:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26214469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkkenobi/pseuds/drunkkenobi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“The world is weird,” Shane said, pointing a finger directly at the camera.</p>
<p>Ryan shifted Ellie up on his hip as both of them copied Shane. “And or wonderful!”</p>
<p>“And I’m taking my curious little family around to explore every last bit of it!”</p>
<p>“Where are we today, Shane?”</p>
<p>“KITTIES!” Ellie interrupted, pumping her little fists in the air.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ellie [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830517</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>168</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Weird And/Or Wonderful World: The Lost Season</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ryan &amp; Shane &amp; Ellie Visit a Cat Cafe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/uneventfulhouses/gifts">uneventfulhouses</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for Yesi on her birthday! Thank you for encouraging this universe and all soft fics in general. &lt;3</p>
<p>I was stumped on what to write for this collection for a long time and once the phrase "I'm taking my curious little family around" popped into my head, well, it was all over. Thank you as always to Bee for the beta!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shockingly, it had been Shane’s idea. He was the one always getting on Ryan for sharing too many pictures and videos of Ellie on their public Instagrams, so Ryan never imagined he’d be the one to suggest bringing her to a Weird Wonderful World shoot. Ryan agreed to it, but only if Ellie herself wanted to.</p>
<p>For better or worse, Ellie really wanted to.</p>
<p>“Now, we’re gonna have to wake up really early and it’s going to be a really long day, are you sure?” Shane asked her.</p>
<p>“Yes!” she squealed, nearly vibrating out of her skin.</p>
<p>“You’re not going to be able to hang all over Uncle Matty and Aunt Brittney, either. They’re gonna be working and have big heavy equipment that could hurt you,” Ryan added. </p>
<p>“I wanna go!” Ellie insisted. “Where are we going?”</p>
<p>“It’s a surprise,” Shane smiled.</p>
<p>“<em>Papa!</em>” she whined, dramatically clutching Shane’s leg.</p>
<p>He ruffled her hair. “You’ll like it, trust me.”</p>
<p>That wasn’t good enough for her, so she changed dads and legs. “Daaaaad, tell me!” </p>
<p>Ryan laughed. “No can do, baby girl. But you’ll find out next week, don’t worry.”</p>
<p>Ellie continued to huff about it until she got distracted trying to decide which stuffed animals would accompany her on her Weird Wonderful World adventure. Ryan snaked his arm around Shane’s waist, hooking his thumb in one of the belt loops. </p>
<p>“You sure about this?”</p>
<p>“Not really. But considering where we’re going? She’d murder us if we didn’t bring her.”</p>
<p>Ryan watched as Ellie sorted between twelve different cat stuffed animals and her one-of-a-kind Professor plushie. He already knew he was going to have to stock up on more allergy meds. </p>
<hr/>
<p>“The world is weird,” Shane said, pointing a finger directly at the camera.</p>
<p>Ryan shifted Ellie up on his hip as both of them copied Shane. “And or wonderful!”</p>
<p>
“And I’m taking my curious little family around to explore every last bit of it!”</p>
<p>“Where are we today, Shane?”</p>
<p>“KITTIES!” Ellie interrupted, pumping her little fists in the air.</p>
<p>Shane wheezed, nearly blowing the line. “Heh, yeah! That’s right, Ellie, we’re at The CatCafe Lounge!”</p>
<p>“Papa, Dad, kitties!” Ellie yelled, clambering to get out of Ryan’s hold.</p>
<p>“Wait, hey, wait, we might have to do that again,” Ryan told her as he set her down on the ground.</p>
<p>“No, that was good. Besides, we only have two hours, we should get in and do the interview ASAP,” Brittney said, tapping her iPad that held her immaculately scheduled production list. “Ellie, you did great!”</p>
<p>Ellie beamed, mumbling a shy ‘thank you’ to her. Ryan knelt down to fix one of her pigtails. He had never been very good at braids, but Shane had been too busy to do it himself this morning. </p>
<p>“So, Papa and I have to talk to the lady who owns this place for a little bit, okay? Can you hang out here with aunt Katie?”</p>
<p>“I wanna see the kitties!”</p>
<p>“I know, and you will! But we gotta talk to the owner and make sure we help her get some of those kitties new homes.”</p>
<p>Ellie nodded, not looking very convinced but willing to behave, for now. Thank god Katie had agreed to come hang out and play babysitter; she was Ellie’s favorite of her numerous aunts and uncles.</p>
<p>“Yeah, c’mon, Ellie, we’ll sit in the nice air-conditioned car and listen to some tunes!” Katie suggested.</p>
<p>“Moana! Moana!” Ellie immediately demanded.</p>
<p>“Yup, we can listen to Moana.”</p>
<p>“We owe you,” Ryan said to Katie as he handed Ellie off to her. </p>
<p>“What else is new?” Katie replied easily.</p>
<p>Ryan joined back up with Shane as they found a place to interview Kristi, the cafe’s owner. These interviews were old hat to them now, but Ryan could tell Shane was a little nervous for this one. He placed his hand on Shane’s lower back, under his jacket, hoping the small warmth would ground him.</p>
<p>“Anything you need from me, big guy?”</p>
<p>“Ellie okay?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, she’s gonna make Katie listen to ‘How Far I’ll Go’ a hundred times.”</p>
<p>“Ah, of course,” Shane said, running a hand through his hair. </p>
<p>“You okay?” Ryan asked, his voice lower.</p>
<p>“Yeah, just. Maybe we should ask Katie to take Ellie home.”</p>
<p>Ryan was so shocked that he had to take a step back from Shane. “What? You planned this whole episode for her!”</p>
<p>“I know, I know. I’m just...is this too much for her? The cameras and everything,” Shane said, motioning to Matty and TJ with their equipment.</p>
<p>Ryan sighed. They’d had this conversation a hundred times since Ellie was born, debating how much of her life to make public. It was a hard line to follow when your entire career was predicated on being accessible to the internet. The struggle between wanting to show her off constantly and not wanting to open her up to the ugly side of the world so early was real and complicated. But Ellie was always dying to go on filming trips with her dads, always begging to be a part of their work lives, so Shane planned this Weird Wonderful World just for her. She loved animals, cats especially, and Obi was getting too old to keep up with her anymore. It was going to be the perfect early birthday gift, not to mention a hit video.</p>
<p>“She’ll tell us if she’s uncomfortable,” Ryan assured him. “She always does.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want her to think she <em>has</em> to do this, though.”</p>
<p>“We asked her and she wanted to film with us before she even knew it was a cat cafe.” Ryan reached out to grasp Shane’s hand between both of his own. “She wants to be part of this, to be closer to us. To you.”</p>
<p>Shane stared at him, his eyes wide as he took in the weight of Ryan’s words. Ryan grinned; he was incredibly proud that he still knew how to get Shane to bluescreen after all these years. </p>
<p>“Hey, Kristi’s ready,” Brittney said, interrupting them. “We good to go?”</p>
<p>“Are we, big guy?”</p>
<p>Shane cleared his throat, squeezing Ryan’s hand. “Yeah. Let’s roll.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>The interview went smoothly. They were able to promote the CatCafe for its work in adopting out cats and get some fun anecdotes about the cats themselves. Once it was time to film with them properly, Katie brought Ellie into the cafe. She was practically vibrating at superhuman speed waiting to go into the seating area where at least twenty cats were hanging out. </p>
<p>While Ryan popped a couple allergy pills, Shane knelt down to meet Ellie at eye-level.</p>
<p>“Ellie, remember what we talked about, okay? The rules.”</p>
<p>“I knoooow. Can we go in? Pleeeeeeeease?”</p>
<p>“Not yet. Rule number one?”</p>
<p>“No running.”</p>
<p>Ryan joined them. “Yup! Rule number two?”</p>
<p>“No yelling,” she repeated.</p>
<p>“And rule number three?” Shane asked, holding up three fingers.</p>
<p>“Be gentle,” she said before plastering herself against the door separating the shop and the lounge where all the cats were.</p>
<p>“Well. Here goes nothing,” Shane said to the camera. “Those are famous last words, right?”</p>
<p>With a laugh, Ryan grabbed Ellie’s hand as they opened the door. It was a cute, homey space with lots of cat trees and shelves and little nooks and crannies for them to hide in. By first glance, a dozen different cats were out and about, some playing with toys, most of them sunbathing by the windows.</p>
<p>Ellie nearly pulled Ryan’s arm out of his socket as she spotted a fat orange cat cleaning themself on the nearest cat tree.</p>
<p>“Dad!!! That one looks like Obi!!!!”</p>
<p>“Rule number three, Elle, Jesus Christ,” Ryan muttered, nevertheless letting her lead him to the giant ginger cat. </p>
<p>“That’s Cinnamon,” Kristi offered. “He’s a big boy but a total sweetheart.”</p>
<p>“Remember, let him sniff your fingers,” Shane said, dangling his fingers in front of Cinnamon’s pink nose. Ellie copied him, giggling when he licked her.</p>
<p>“Tickles!” she said, delighted. Then she carefully ran a little hand over Cinnamon’s fur, from his head down his back. Ryan let out a breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding. Ellie was great with Obi and Oscar, never pulling on their tails or trying to pick them up, but it could always be different with unfamiliar animals. Thankfully, it seemed like her gentle nature was universal.</p>
<p>Ryan wiped at his eyes with the back of his jacket sleeve. When were those allergy pills gonna kick in already?</p>
<p>The three of them walked around the lounge for a little bit, while Kristi told them about each of the cats. A couple had gotten skittish around Ellie, running back through the small cat door where Kristi told them their litter boxes were, but Shane was able to keep it from dampening her spirits.</p>
<p>“Why are they scared of me?” she asked, her big brown eyes filled with worry.</p>
<p>“They’re not! I’m afraid it’s me and my big ol’ mustache that’s scarin’ them off. I’ll try to be less conspicuous,” Shane explained.</p>
<p>“You’re silly,” Ellie said, shaking her head before getting distracted by a calico cat hanging off the top of a cat tree. “Oooh that one!” </p>
<p>Ryan lifted her onto his shoulders so she could get a better look. It was a sign of the times that he only kept up with working out these days so he could do stuff like this.</p>
<p>“That’s Callie. She’s a mama cat, all but one of her kittens have been adopted in the past few weeks,” Kristi told them.</p>
<p>The “K” word got Ellie so riled up she grabbed two tiny fistfuls of Ryan’s hair. It was all he could do not to swear, especially when he caught Shane trying not to laugh at him.</p>
<p>“You need some help there, babe?” Shane asked with a shit-eating grin. </p>
<p>“Yes, now shut up.”</p>
<p>“KITTIES!” Ellie yelled as she continued to pull on Ryan’s hair.</p>
<p>“Rule number two, Eliana!” Ryan reminded her as Shane helped disentangle their daughter from Ryan’s shoulders and hair. </p>
<p>“Sorry,” she whispered. </p>
<p>“So, you do have, uh, some ‘k’-words?” Ryan asked once Ellie was safely on the ground again.</p>
<p>“Just one, right now. She usually stays in the back. We let the cats choose between the back room and the lounge at their leisure, to keep them from getting stressed,” Kristi explained. “That goes for the ‘k’ words too.”</p>
<p>“You hear that, Ellie? That means we gotta be nice and quiet so the kitty will want to come out and play,” Shane said to her. </p>
<p>“Okay,” she nodded very seriously. </p>
<p>They took a break from visiting the cats to grab some treats from the cafe. While Shane sipped on a fancy coffee, Ryan and Ellie helped themselves to some Mexican hot chocolates. They also sampled some of the cafe’s best selling treats, which ranged from the simple (Rice Krispies treats) to the decadent (tiramisu). Thankfully, they were in LA and could request sugar-free options for Ellie so she wouldn’t zoom off like a rocket the second they were done eating.</p>
<p>Ellie was wiping sticky Rice Krispies all over her face when Shane got Ryan’s attention. </p>
<p>“A certain ‘k’-word just came out,” Shane said, nodding his head.</p>
<p>Very nonchalantly, Ryan glanced back towards the cat door to see a grey and white tabby kitten sniffing at the ground right outside the cat door to the back. Something in his gut told him that the minute his daughter saw her, that was going to be the end of it.</p>
<p>“So, Ellie, are you done with your snack?” Ryan asked as he pulled an ever-present packet of wet wipes out of his pocket.</p>
<p>“Yup!” </p>
<p>“Then let’s get you cleaned up.”</p>
<p>Ryan wiped her down while Shane talked with Matty about where to set up the next shot. </p>
<p>“Daddy?”</p>
<p>Oh boy. Ellie only brought out “daddy” when she wanted something.</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“I know I said I wanted that drumset for my birthday but I wanna change it.”</p>
<p>Ryan already knew the answer, but he asked her anyway. “What do you want instead, baby girl?”</p>
<p>“I wanna help these kitty-cats get homes,” she said quietly, like it was a secret. </p>
<p>It was Ryan’s turn to bluescreen. He gaped at her, knocked completely on his ass. What a special little girl she was.</p>
<p>“<em>Ellie,</em>” Shane gasped from Ryan’s right. Thank fuck Shane hadn’t missed that talking to Matty. “That’s a very kind gesture.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Ryan nodded, finally finding his voice. “And we’re—you’re—actually already helping them. This video will hopefully get all these good kitties adopted.”</p>
<p>Her eyes went wide. “It will?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sweet pea,” Shane said, reaching across the table to gently squeeze her hand. “But if you want to help more, we can do that too.”</p>
<p>“I do,” she grinned, all toothy, her dimple as deep as Ryan had ever seen. He didn’t know what to say to her, he was too full of pride and awe at this tiny little person he was lucky to call his daughter. All Ryan could do was lean over and hug her. </p>
<p>“Dad! Be quiet!” Ellie demanded with a loud whisper in his ear.</p>
<p>“I didn’t say anything,” Ryan laughed.</p>
<p>“Shh!!! The kitty came out! You’re gonna scare her!”</p>
<p>Ryan pulled back, holding his finger up to his lips. “Got it,” he whispered.</p>
<p>“You too,” she demanded to the crew, her little eyebrows narrowed.</p>
<p>They all gave her thumbs up. Ryan’s heart soared, overwhelmed with love for his entire chosen family. </p>
<p>Everyone watched with bated breath as Ellie slipped out of her chair onto the ground and carefully crawled towards the little grey and white tabby. Now that she was running around Ryan realized she didn’t have a tail, either.</p>
<p>“That’s Tigerlily, she’s the last of Callie’s litter. They were all named after flowers,” Kristi explained. “Half of them were manxes, without the tails, so we assume that’s what kind of cat the father was.”</p>
<p>“C’mere kitty,” Ellie said, patting the floor in front of her when she was about three feet away. </p>
<p>Tigerlily bounced back a little bit, but Ellie stayed put, continually patting the floor. Shane’s hand clutched onto Ryan’s wrist as they watched. It was riveting, like a nature documentary, except with higher stakes. A heartbroken toddler was a way scarier proposition than a gazelle outrunning a lion, in Ryan’s humble opinion.</p>
<p>After five agonizing minutes, the little tailless cat trotted up to Ellie’s outstretched hand and sniffed her fingers. As Ellie patted her head, Tigerlily climbed into Ellie’s lap and meowed the tiniest, funniest meow Ryan had ever heard in his life.</p>
<p>Shane turned around to Kristi. “So, what’s your adoption fee again?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“That was The CatCafe Lounge!” Shane said as the three of them stood outside in the parking lot, Ellie back in Ryan’s arms.</p>
<p>“It was fun! Even for someone with allergies, like me. What’d you think, apple tater?” </p>
<p>“I like the kitties,” she said very seriously.</p>
<p>“We know you do,” Shane told her, gently tweaking her nose. “So we have a little surprise for you.”</p>
<p>Her eyes were as big as saucers. “Surprise?”</p>
<p>“In your honor, Watcher is going to donate $1000 to The CatCafe Lounge,” Shane told her.</p>
<p>She yelled right in Ryan’s ear. “Dad! You can buy like twenty houses with that!”</p>
<p>“Oh baby, I wish, but it is a lot,” Ryan laughed. “Enough to buy so many cat toys and treats!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and all because of you, Ellie!”</p>
<p>“But that’s not all,” Ryan added. “You already got one very special kitty adopted today!”</p>
<p>“I did?”</p>
<p>“Yup,” Shane smiled. </p>
<p>Kristi emerged from the cafe with a soft black carrier, where the squeakiest meow in the world was chiming off every five seconds.</p>
<p>“Where is she going?” Ellie asked.</p>
<p>Ryan lowered her back to the ground and knelt down with her. “Home. With us.”</p>
<p>Tears immediately sprang into her brown eyes. “W-what?”</p>
<p>“She’s coming home with us, baby,” Shane said as he took the carrier. “She’s gonna be Obi and Oscar’s little sister.”</p>
<p>Ellie burst into tears, large wracking sobs as she waved her little arms. She accidentally hit Ryan in the face, but he didn’t care, he was too overjoyed to see his daughter so happy. Ryan wished he could bottle these moments up and keep them on a shelf so he could always return to them. </p>
<p>She ran over to Shane, her head swinging wildly between him and the carrier, like she couldn’t decide which to hug first. Finally, she launched herself at one of Shane’s legs, clinging to him like a barnacle. Ryan felt tears begin to prick at the corner of his eyes. Sometimes it drove him crazy that the two people he loved most were both so shy about expressing themselves, but other times, like now, it reminded him of how special it was when they finally let go. </p>
<p>Shane placed a hand on her head, his thumb rubbing her scalp. Ryan wanted desperately to join them, but he held himself back. Shane needed this moment with Ellie, just the two of them. Instead, he grinned at the camera, ready to put a bow on this whole episode.</p>
<p>“Wholesome as fuck, right?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>After filming wrapped, Ryan and Shane took Ellie and their newest addition home. Ellie decided that Tigerlily needed a new name to match her funny little meow so she christened her Squeaks, giggling every time the kitten opened her mouth. Obi was less enthused, but as an elderly man these days, he just went back to sleeping on his cat tree and ignored her. Oscar, on the other hand, took to her immediately, licking her and being just as gentle as he had with Ellie when they first brought her home.</p>
<p>Dogs were the best, Ryan didn’t care what his husband or daughter said.</p>
<p>Ellie crashed early that night, obviously overwhelmed by the busy day. They didn’t even have time to read to her before she passed out, her Professor plushie tight in her arms. Ryan was about to suggest to Shane that they call it an early night too, when Shane grabbed Ryan by the hips and laid a gigantic kiss on him. Ryan nearly hit the wall next to Ellie’s room, but Shane kept him upright as he deepened the kiss, his nose pressing in hard to the side of Ryan’s. When they finally stopped for air, Shane didn’t move away, so neither did Ryan.</p>
<p>“Wow, hey, what was that for?” Ryan asked, more than a little dazed.</p>
<p>“I love you,” Shane said, his voice raspy. </p>
<p>“Well, same, obviously,” Ryan grinned. He pressed his left hand to Shane’s neck so he would feel his ring. “You just usually wait for the bedroom to get all frisky.”</p>
<p>“It’s not about that,” Shane said as he nosed alongside Ryan’s cheek. “I would’ve backed out today, if you weren’t there. I was too scared about sharing her with the world. But you were right. And she’s...she’s so special, Ry.”</p>
<p>Ryan clutched the back of Shane’s head, his fingers tangling in his hair to hold him close. “She is. I can’t believe she wanted to give her birthday money to the cats. I was never that selfless as a kid.”</p>
<p>“Me neither. How are we raising someone that much better than us?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Ryan admitted in between kisses to Shane’s cheek. “Lucky, I guess.”</p>
<p>“No, luck is for rabbits. We’re <em>privileged</em> to have that little girl in our lives,” Shane said, pressing his forehead to Ryan’s and adding in a whisper, “thank you.”</p>
<p>“<em>Shane</em>,” Ryan breathed as he felt a swell of emotions rising from his gut. </p>
<p>“I get to have all of this, our company, our daughter, our <em>family</em>, all because of you and your ghosts,” Shane continued, his voice cracking. </p>
<p>“And I only have any of that too because you laid down on a pentagram in a Kansas basement,” Ryan reminded him, cupping Shane’s face with his hands. “Everything we have is because of <em>us</em>.”</p>
<p>“The world sure is weird, huh?” Shane asked with a sniff and a smile.</p>
<p>Against Shane’s lips, Ryan whispered, “And or wonderful.”</p>
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